Luka Doncic Gets Ejected After Shouting Curse Word At Thunder Fan That Ref Thought Was Directed At Him

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There is never a good time for one of your star players to get ejected from a game, but Luka Doncic's dismissal from the Lakers' contest against the Thunder on Tuesday night couldn't have come at a more inopportune moment.

The worst of it all is that he probably shouldn't have been ejected to begin with.

With just under eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, Doncic hit a tough fade-away shot in the paint to give Los Angeles a 108-107 lead. After the bucket, he looked over towards a fan sitting courtside and shared some words as he made his way back on defense.

Unfortunately for him, referee J.J. Orr was in the same sightline as the fan Doncic was supposedly jawing at, and the official wasted no time in popping the Lakers' star with his second technical foul of the game.

Doncic's ejection led to a legitimate meltdown for the Lakers as the Thunder ended the contest on a 28-11 run to win the game 136-120 in a game Los Angeles needed as it tries to secure a higher seed for the NBA playoffs.

Crew chief Tony Brothers confirmed that Doncic was ejected for what was perceived to be profanity directed at Orr.

"He looked directly at an official and used vulgar language," Brothers said.

ESPN's Dave McMenamin was able to get a hold of the fan that Doncic was having his back and forth with, and the fan claimed it was all part of "the game within the game" telling him that he had called the Lakers' star "short" earlier on.

"During the the game within the game, I mentioned that he was short and he missed it and he turned around and he shot an expletive [sic] back and J.T. happened to see it and that point, T’d him up," the fan told McMenamin.

Doncic explained to reporters after the contest that it was all a misunderstanding, and that he was simply talking back to a fan, which is something he routinely does.

"You can see it, it happened," Doncic said. "I never got a fan ejected, never. But if you're gonna talk, I'm gonna talk back like always. That had nothing to do with the refs."

The 26-year-old had 23 points, five assists and three rebounds at the time of his ejection.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets, including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016, when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.